Contents distribution system for handling secondary products utilizing raw material contents

ABSTRACT

A contents distribution system uses a copyright rental use scheme in which the economical burden on the users at a time of utilizing contents can be reduced to a reasonable level, and appropriate fees can be collected for the copyrights of the contents created and provided at each stage by the raw material creators and the secondary product creators. In this system, the secondary product creator can create the secondary product contents by incorporating the raw material contents for free, and sell the secondary product contents. The end-user pays respective utilization fees to the secondary product creator and each raw material provider at a time of the purchasing the secondary product contents.

This application is a divisional application of and claims the benefitof priority under 35 USC §120 from U. S. Ser. No. 11/358,075 filed onFeb. 22, 2006, which is a continuation application of Ser. No.09/962,149, filed Sep. 26, 2001, the entire contents of each which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a contents distribution system forfacilitating extensive contents utilization, and enabling production andsales of contents in a form of a secondary product constructed as a workincorporating charged contents as raw material contents.

2. Description of the Related Art

Nowadays, due to the advance and spread of the computer networks such asWWW (World Wide Web) and the improved performances of network terminals,it becomes possible to easily exchange an enormous amount of digitalcontents (software) such as text, music, video, computer programs, etc.,without any geographical limitation. Namely, by providing a serverconnected to a network such as WWW and storing contents in this serversuch that they can be distributed from there, it becomes possible todownload and utilize these contents anywhere on the network. This can beregarded as a distribution revolution realized by the networkdistribution in the field of the contents distribution.

In the past, the charged contents such as text, music, video, computerprograms, etc. have been shipped as products in forms of articles havingsome shape and size using papers, magnetic medium, optical medium, etc.,and merchandized through distribution retailers of retail stores,telephone order centers, etc. Now, it becomes possible to merchandizethese contents by the network distribution so that the users canpurchase them any time anywhere, without worrying about the store hoursor distances.

When such an environment becomes available, the next important stage isto develop a technique for mechanically realizing a fee collectingmechanism. Such a mechanical charging technique for the charged contents(software) distributed through the network is expected to become veryimportant in future, because it can free the distribution cost and thelabor cost related to the charging processing and it can theoreticallyeliminate the illegal use of the charged contents.

A typical known contents charging system has been disclosed in JapanesePatent Application Laid Open No. 11-283327 (1999).

Briefly, this system operates as follows. At a time of distribution, thecontents are distributed in a data format containing the encryptedcontents and a contract term regarding the reproduction (this dataformat will be referred to as “distribution format”), and at a time ofreproduction, the contents are reproduced by decrypting them by using akey that can be acquired in exchange to the execution of the contract(this state will be referred to as “reproduction format”). This systemcan handle the contents utilization model in which the contentsutilization right can be purchased by paying the appropriate fee. Here,this type of contents utilization style will be referred to as “buy upscheme”.

In this known contents charging system, because the “buy up scheme” isused, the transaction will be completed when the sales agreement is madeand the contents are delivered. In the case of selling the contentsproduced from nothing, there is only one contents creator so that theprocessing by which the contents user pays the fee to the contentscreator can be handled by this known contents charging system.

Although rather rare in the case of music, painting, etc., it is afairly common practice in the case of Web pages, 3D computer graphics,etc., to purchase the charged contents of the others and produce anothernew work by incorporating the purchased contents as raw materialcontents. In such cases, the style of transaction has been such that thesecondary product creator buys up the right to use each raw materialcontents to be used in the new work from the raw material provider (rawmaterial creator) and sells the new work that utilizes the purchased rawmaterial contents, that is, the merchandizing is completed at eachcontents transaction stage, so that the entire contract processing canbe handled without any problem by the above described known contentscharging system even in this style of transaction.

Note that, in the above, a creator of the raw material contents isreferred to as the raw material provider and a creator of a work thatutilizes the provided raw material contents is referred to as asecondary product creator. Also, in the following, the contents createdby a single creator will be referred to as genuine contents and thecontents produced by incorporating raw material contents will bereferred to as composite contents, for the sake of explanation.

In the case of the “buy up scheme”, the sales price of the raw materialis estimated according to the expected cumulative profit of thesecondary product creator resulting from the use of that raw material,and the customers are limited to the secondary product creators, thatis, the market is small, so that there is a natural tendency to set arather high price. For this reason, the system using the “buy up scheme”will require the users to endure the unreasonably high economical burdenso that it is impractical to expect a significant increase of the usersin terms of the business and therefore it is likely to become a systemwith rather poor future prospect.

Note that the re-use oriented contents utilization style anddistribution market in the open world in which users can createsecondary products by editing and processing primary contents on generalpurpose PCs is known as “contents recycling market”. However, even thissystem cannot provide a mechanism in which the burden on the users at atime of utilizing the contents is reduced to a reasonable level.

In the case of creating the contents, the creator can adopt either anoriginal creation style in which the entire contents are developedindependently or a secondary processing style in which the raw materialsare purchased from the raw material providers and the desired contentsare constructed by using the purchased raw materials.

In the case of adopting the original creation style, the contentsdevelopment cost and time can be enormous, whereas in the case ofadopting the secondary processing style, the time required for thecontents development can be reduced so that the contents in good qualitycan be developed in short time at a relatively low cost. However, in thelatter case, the raw materials to be utilized must be purchased so thatthere is a need to consider a balance among the initial investment forpurchasing the raw materials, the cost required in creating thesecondary product, and the market demands for the created secondaryproduct, which could be a factor for preventing the utilization of theraw materials.

Even in the “contents recycling market” which is the re-use orientedcontents utilization style and distribution market in which thesecondary products can be created by the secondary processing of thepurchased raw materials and the resulting secondary products can then beprovided as charged raw materials, the secondary product creator whoutilizes the raw materials must purchase the raw materials to beutilized so that there is a considerable financial burden on thesecondary product creator. Namely, the idea of the “contents recyclingmarket” is aimed at providing a mechanism for recycling the contents asa work, and the creators of the raw materials to be provided to thesecondary product creators naturally tend to ask for the high salesprices for the raw materials in view of the expected sales volumes,especially when the raw materials to be provided are highlysophisticated ones.

This fact makes it difficult to break the vicious circle of requiringthe heavy raw material purchasing burden on the secondary productcreators, raising the sales prices of the secondary product contents,and lowering the sales volumes as a result.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a contentsdistribution system in which the economical burden of the secondaryproduct creators can be reduced, the burden on the users at a time ofutilizing the contents created by the secondary product creators can bereduced to a reasonable level, and the sales volumes can be increasedfor both the raw material providers and the secondary product creators,such that a remarkable expansion of the business becomes possible.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided acontents distribution system for enabling utilization of a secondaryproduct contents containing one or more raw material contents which areencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract procedure to enable utilization of the raw material contents isattached, the contents distribution system comprising: a server deviceconfigured to maintain the encryption key of the raw material contents;and a client device configured to acquire the encryption key of the rawmaterial contents from the server device, decrypt the raw materialcontents by using the encryption key and enable the utilization of thesecondary product contents, by executing the contract procedureaccording to the information for the contract procedure attached to theraw material contents when the utilization of the secondary productcontents is specified.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is providedan information processing device for enabling utilization of a secondaryproduct contents containing one or more raw material contents which areencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract procedure to enable utilization of the raw material contents isattached, the information processing device comprising: an executionunit configured to execute the contract procedure according to theinformation for the contract procedure attached to the raw materialcontents when the utilization of the secondary product contents isspecified; and a processing unit configured to acquire the encryptionkey of the raw material contents from a server that maintains theencryption key of the raw material contents, decrypt the raw materialcontents by using the encryption key and enable the utilization of thesecondary product contents when the contract procedure is executed bythe execution unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acontents distribution method for enabling utilization of a secondaryproduct contents containing one or more raw material contents which areencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract procedure to enable utilization of the raw material contents isattached, the contents distribution method comprising: (a) maintainingthe encryption key of the raw material contents at a server device; and(b) acquiring the encryption key of the raw material contents from theserver device, decrypting the raw material contents by using theencryption key and enabling the utilization of the secondary productcontents, by executing the contract procedure according to theinformation for the contract procedure attached to the raw materialcontents at a client device when the utilization of the secondaryproduct contents is specified.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acomputer program product for causing a computer to function as aninformation processing device for enabling utilization of a secondaryproduct contents containing one or more raw material contents which areencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract procedure to enable utilization of the raw material contents isattached, the computer program product comprising: first computerprogram codes for causing the computer to execute the contract procedureaccording to the information for the contract procedure attached to theraw material contents when the utilization of the secondary productcontents is specified; and second computer program codes for causing thecomputer to acquire the encryption key of the raw material contents froma server that maintains the encryption key of the raw material contents,decrypt the raw material contents by using the encryption key and enablethe utilization of the secondary product contents when the contractprocedure is executed by the first computer program codes.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod for providing a contents distribution service, comprising:providing a secondary product contents containing one or more rawmaterial contents which are encrypted by using an encryption key and towhich an information for a contract procedure to enable utilization ofthe raw material contents is attached, the secondary product contentsbeing created by a secondary product creator without paying any rawmaterial fees to raw material providers of the raw material contents;executing the contract procedure according to the information for thecontract procedure attached to the raw material contents when theutilization of the secondary product contents is specified; andacquiring the encryption key of the raw material contents from a serverdevice that maintains the encryption key of the raw material contents ata server device, decrypting the raw material contents by using theencryption key and enabling the utilization of the secondary productcontents, when an end-user of the secondary product contents pays a rawmaterial fee to each raw material provider of each raw material contentsupon executing the contract procedure for each raw material contents.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of acontents distribution system according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagram showing exemplary data in a distributionformat and a configuration format respectively that can be used in thecontents distribution system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an exemplary structure of a key that can beused in the contents distribution system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an exemplary Web page contents in aconfiguration format that can be used in the contents distributionsystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an exemplary Web page contents in areproduction format that can be used in the contents distribution systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an exemplary detailed configuration ofa contents client, a contents editor and a contents server in thecontents distribution system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for a processing algorithm of a recomposerprovided in the contents distribution system of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for a processing algorithm of a decoder providedin the contents distribution system of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for a processing algorithm of a validaterprovided in the contents distribution system of FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for a key acquisition algorithm of a decoderprovided in the contents distribution system of FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for a processing algorithm of an encoderprovided in the contents distribution system of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams showing exemplary descriptions written ina contract definition language (CDL) that can be used in the contentsdistribution system of FIG. 1 and FIG. 6.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an exemplary data in a distribution formatusing a contract definition language (CDL) that can be used in thecontents distribution system of FIG. 1 and FIG. 6.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart for a language processing and contract executionalgorithm by a CDL decoder that can be provided in the contentsdistribution system of FIG. 1 and FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1 to FIG. 14, one embodiment of a contentsdistribution system according to the present invention will bedescribed.

First, the operation principle underlying the present invention will bedescribed.

The present invention is directed to a mechanism which is applicable tothe contents distribution style in which new contents can be created bythe secondary processing of the purchased contents and then sold, whichcan enable each contents creator to provide the created contents at lowprices, and which can realize the remarkable increase of the salesvolume, as well as a system for realizing this mechanism on theInternet.

(Basic Concepts of the Present Invention)

In the present invention, the economical burden on the users at a timeof utilizing contents can be reduced to a reasonable level, andappropriate fees can be collected for the copyrights of the contentscreated and provided at each stage by the raw material creators and thesecondary product creators. Here, a new contents utilization businessmethod called “copyright rental use scheme” is proposed, and a chargingsystem for carrying out the charging processing as a support to thecontents utilization business in the copyright rental use scheme isproposed.

The copyright rental use scheme proposed here is a mechanism in which,when the secondary product creator creates new contents by utilizing rawmaterial contents provided by a third person, the utilization fee of thesecondary product contents that includes the utilization fee of the rawmaterial contents will be paid by a user of the secondary productcontents which is the final work. In other words, this is a contentsutilization scheme in which “the secondary product creator transfers thepayment for the raw material utilization right to the end-user of thesecondary product” such that the end-user pays the utilization fee ofeach contents at the final utilization stage, but the secondary productcreator who utilizes the raw material contents need not pay theutilization fee at the intermediate stage, that is, the utilization feeof the raw material contents.

In short, this is a business model in which it is the end-user, not thesecondary product creator, who eventually purchases the raw materialcontents, and the secondary product creator can creates the secondaryproduct contents by incorporating the raw material contents for free,and sell the secondary product contents. The end-user of the secondaryproduct contents pays respective utilization fees to the secondaryproduct creator and each raw material provider at a time of thepurchasing the secondary product contents.

In the case of adopting the copyright rental use scheme with respect tothe contents, it is the end-user of the contents who purchases the rawmaterials. There are far greater number of end-users of the contentscompared with the secondary product creators, so that the widerutilization of the contents can be promoted and therefore the increasein the number of users can be expected. For this reason, there is anadvantage that the raw material provider can suppress the raw materialsales price low and yet increase the gross sales.

On the other hand, it is possible to expect a synergy effect that thesecondary product creator can utilize the raw materials without anyinitial investment so that it becomes possible to utilize the rawmaterials actively and the secondary product with improved contents canbe provided at low cost, while it becomes possible for the end-user toutilize the product in good quality.

In the conventional contents utilization business model using the buy upscheme which is the general commerce practice, there is a need tocompare the initial investment required for the raw materials with theeffort required for the creation plus the sales of the created product,which could be a factor for preventing the raw material utilization.

For these two reasons, the contents utilization business model using thecopyright rental use scheme proposed by the present invention can beconsidered as a very effective model for the contents raw material salesbusiness.

No such business model has been known in the real world. One of thepossible reasons for explaining this fact is that, even if such abusiness model is contemplated in the real word, there is no reasonableway for the raw material provider to surely collect the raw material feefrom the end-user.

Another possible reason is that, in the copyright rental use scheme, theend-user who is a customer must pay respective utilization fees to aplurality of copyright holders and this will increase the burden of theend-user invisibly in a form of time and effort required for thepayments, so that it is not easily acceptable as a sales style.

However, in the present invention system, the former problem is resolvedby theoretically guaranteeing the accurate monitoring of all thetransaction acts, and the latter problem is resolved by providing anoperation assistant mechanism for unifying the payments.

Now, in the real world, the license type charging model in which eachcopyright holder receives the income according to the sales of the worksuch as the royalty with respect to the published work like music CD orbook is also often employed. The contents utilization model using thecopyright rental use scheme can emulate such a license type chargingmodel as well. For example, in the case of music CD, it is possible toconsider the model in which prices for respective raw material contentsprovided by copyright holders such as a songwriter, a composer, anarranger, and a singer can be set in advance, and the music CD can beregarded as contents constructed from these raw material contents.

Note that the concept described above is directed to the business worldbased on an assumption that there is no charging between the secondaryproduct creator and the raw material provider, but in practice, therecan be cases where the raw material provider wishes to collect somerental fee (corresponding to the neighboring rights) from the secondaryproduct creator depending on the power relationship between the rawmaterial and the secondary product such as a name value difference or ashare difference, or conversely there can be cases where it is moreappropriate for the raw material provider to pay an advertisement fee tothe secondary product creator in a sense that the incorporation of theraw material in the secondary product can promote the sales of the rawmaterial.

For this reason, the monetary transaction between the secondary productcreator and the raw material provider can be made possible in such areal business world. As will be described in further detail below, as anapplication of this function, it is also possible to make such acontract that, \100 will be charged if the own contents are incorporatedinto the other contents as a raw material and the other contents areintended for the purpose of the commercial use, but there is no chargeif the other contents are intended for non-commercial use, for example.

Besides that, it is also possible to consider the extension in which itis possible to specify the number of times or the period of time forwhich the contents can be reproduced by introducing a concept of thelifetime, i.e., the valid period, with respect to a key for decryptingthe contents. By setting the available period, it is possible to realizethe utilization environment in which the contents can be provided to theuser at lower price.

Next, one embodiment of a specific system for realizing the business onthe Internet or the like, for example, in which the basic concepts ofthe present invention are introduced by applying principles describedabove will be described in detail.

One aspect of this system can be viewed as a “contents distributionsystem”, which is a middleware related to the network that is aimed atexecuting contracts and exchanging contents through HTTP (a protocolused in the World Wide Web). In this system, the URL at which a Web pagefor executing contract terms is located will be used for a contractdescription. Consequently, it is possible to include arbitrary contractterms apart from that regarding the charging, such as those regardinguser registration, questionnaire, etc. On the other hand, in thissystem, it is impossible to realize the monetary transaction or the likebetween the raw material provider and the secondary product creatorwhich is described above as a preferable additional feature. Thecontents to be handled in this case are arbitrary.

Another aspect of this system can be viewed as a “contents chargingsystem”, which can be realized as an extension of the contentsdistribution system, in which highly descriptive CDL (ContractDefinition Language) that is designed for this system will be used for acontract description instead of the URL. As a result, the contract thatcan be handled in this system will be limited to the charging contract,but it becomes possible to utilize a complicated charging contract. Itis also possible to introduce a user agent (operation assistant system)regarding the payments. For example, the payments for the same compositecontents can be unified and made automatic, and services such asmonitoring and warning of the charging state can be provided.

First, the contents distribution system according to this embodimentwill be described.

<Contents Distribution System>

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of the contents distributionsystem 10 according to this embodiment, which comprises at most threesub-systems including a contents client 11, a contents editor 12, and acontents server 13. A plurality of contents distributions systems 10connected through a computer network NM form a distribution system forcontents 20 that can be exchanged between them.

Note that it is also possible to use a configuration for distributingcontents by conveying media. Note also that three sub-systems areindependent from each other and it is not absolutely necessary toprovide them all. For example, in the case of a user who only enjoys thecontents (which will be referred to as an end-user hereafter), itsuffices to provide the contents client 11 alone.

As already mentioned above, a typical known contents charging system hasbeen disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 11-283327(1999). In this system, at a time of distribution, the contents aredistributed in a data format containing the encrypted contents and acontract term regarding the reproduction (this data format will bereferred to as “distribution format”), and at a time of reproduction,the contents are reproduced by decrypting them by using a key that canbe acquired in exchange to the execution of the contract (this statewill be referred to as “reproduction format”). This system is in thecharging model called “but up scheme” in which the contents arepurchased by paying the appropriate fee.

In contrast, the contents distribution system of this embodiment adoptsthe copyright rental use scheme which is a charging model in which thefee payment obligation for the raw material utilization right istransferred from the secondary product creator to the end-user, so thata “configuration format” is introduced as the contents data format inaddition to the distribution format and the reproduction format. Thiscontents data format called “configuration format” is a data formatwhich contains a plurality of contents that are maintained in theirdistributed states as well as data for managing these constituentdistributed contents, which is to be utilized instead of thedistribution format at a time of the distribution.

As will be described below, a component that produces data in this“configuration format” is an archiver 121 shown in FIG. 6 that iscontained in the contents editor 12, and a component that converts thedistributed data in the “configuration format” into data in the“reproduction format” is a recomposer 111/122 shown in FIG. 6.

Here, these data formats will be described briefly with references toFIGS. 2A and 2B and FIG. 3. Note that the data with the data structurein the reproduction format are just raw contents.

FIG. 2A shows the data structure in the distribution format 20A and FIG.2B shows the data structure in the configuration format 20B.

As shown in FIG. 2A, data in the “distribution format” comprises acontract state information section 21, a GUID information section 22,and a contents section 23. Among them, the contract state informationsection 21 is formed by a contracting procedure field 21 a and a keyfield 21 c, where the contracting procedure field 21 a describes the URL(Uniform Resource Locator) 21 b, The URL 21 b described in thecontracting procedure field 21 a is a URL that specifies the contractingprocessing.

Also, the contents section 23 contains data of the contents themselvesin an encrypted form, and the contracting server is to provide a key fordecrypting the contents when the URL 21 b in the contracting procedurefield 21 a is executed.

The GUID information section 22 indicates a unique identifier assignedto each contents, which is to be utilized in identifying the contentswhen the contracting server returns a key. The key provided by thecontracting server is written into the key field 21 c, and the contentsare in the reproducible state whenever the key is written in this keyfield 21 c.

On the other hand, the data structure in the configuration format 20Bshown in FIG. 2B comprises a container contents 24, a plurality of rawmaterial contents, and a structural arrangement information 26. Amongthem, the container contents 24 are contents to be a background intowhich each raw material contents 25 are to be incorporated. Thesecontainer contents 24 are stored in the distribution format, and the rawmaterial contents 25 are stored in the data structure of thedistribution format or the data structure (secondary product) of theconfiguration format. Consequently, each contents have a contract term.Also, the structural arrangement information 26 is a structuralinformation indicating how each raw material contents 25 are to bemerged with the container contents 24.

Here, the following exemplary key structure can be used.

<Key Structure>

The key structure of the key in the key field 21 c is as shown in FIG. 3which comprises a GUID information 21 c 1 for indicating the content ofthe GUID information section 22 of the contents in the distributionformat that correspond to this key, a protection releasing information21 c 2 which is data for decrypting the contents, and a lifetimeinformation 21 c 3 for indicating the lifetime (valid period) of thiskey.

The lifetime information 21 c 3 is optional and it can be specified bythe remaining number of times for which the contents can be reproducedrather than the date and time.

Next, the data structure to be handled in this system will be described.

<Data Structure>

In the case where the contents are a Web page, it is appropriate to usean “Xpath” language as a description of the structural arrangementinformation 26 mentioned above. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 respectively show anexemplary data structure in the configuration format and an exemplarydata structure in the reproduction format in the case of adopting the“Xpath” as a way of describing the structural arrangement information26.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show exemplary Web contents of a magazine page formedby gathering two charged news articles, which are described in “Xpath”,where FIG. 4 shows the data structure in the configuration formation20B, and FIG. 5 shows the data structure in the reproduction format 20C.

By converting the exemplary Web contents in the configuration format asshown in FIG. 4 at the recomposer to be described below, it is possibleto obtain the exemplary Web contents in the reproduction format as shownin FIG. 5.

Next, the detailed configuration of the contents distribution system inthis embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 again.

The contents distribution system 10 of this embodiment comprises thecontents client 11, the contents editor 12 and the contents server 13 inthe case of the maximal configuration as already mentioned above, andamong them, the contents client 11 reads the contents in theconfiguration format, carries out a necessary contracting processing,and reproduces the contents, and as shown in FIG. 6, this contentsclient 11 comprises a recomposer 111, a decoder 112, a validater 113, asaver 114 and a player 115.

The recomposer 111 carries out a processing for extracting the containercontents and the raw material contents contained in the data in theconfiguration format 20B read by the contents client 11. The validater113 checks the validity of the key contained in the target contents inthe distribution format, and updates the lifetime or re-acquires thecontents according to the need.

The decoder 112 decrypts data in the distribution format among thecontainer contents and the raw material contents extracted by therecomposer 111 into the data in the reproduction format, and also has afunction for carrying out the contracting processing with the contentsserver according to the need at a time of the conversion after checkingthe validity of the already acquired key by using the validater 113.

The player 115 reproduces the contents in the data structure of thedistribution format that are decrypted by the decoder 112. The saver 114provides a function for saving the contents under the processing by therecomposer 111 into a file system in the configuration format. At thispoint, if there are decrypted data among the container contents and theraw material contents contained in the contents given from therecomposer 111, the saver 114 saves them after converting them into theoriginal encrypted state. Note however that the saver 114 functions suchthat the key embedded in the contract state information section 21 willremain in the embedded state and not removed.

The processing of the contents client 11 in such a configuration is asfollows. The data in the configuration format 20B (see FIG. 2B) read bythe contents client 11 are given to the recomposer 111 first. Therecomposer 111 extracts the container contents and the raw materialcontents contained in the data in the configuration format.

If the extracted data are in the distribution format, the extracted dataare given to the decoder 112 where they are decrypted. At this point,the decoder 112 checks the validity of the already acquired key by usingthe validater 113 and carries out the contracting processing with thecontents server according to the need.

If the extracted data are in the configuration format, the data in theconfiguration format are given to the recomposer 111 itself to carry outthe reading processing recursively. The raw material in the decrypteddistribution format or the configuration format resulting from theseprocessings are appropriately merged with the container contentsaccording to the structural arrangement information of that rawmaterial. Finally, the contents obtained through these processings arereproduced at the player 115. Also, at the arbitrary processing stage ofthe recomposer 111, the obtained contents in the configuration formatcan be stored. Note that it is devised to be impossible to take thecontents that are converted into the reproduction format in the contentsclient 11 to outside the system in order to prevent the illegal act.

<Contents Editor>

Next, the configuration of the contents editor 12 will be described. Thecontents editor 12 has a function for producing the contents in the datastructure of the configuration format, and at a time of producing thecontents in the configuration format, the contents editor 12 canincorporate the other contents in the configuration format as the rawmaterials. As shown in FIG. 6, the contents editor 12 comprises anarchiver 121, a recomposer 122, a decoder 123, a validater 124, and anencoder 125.

The archiver 121 makes archives of the contents in the configurationformat or the contents in the distribution format that are obtained fromthe external, by forming a file (library file) by combining a pluralityof files.

The recomposer 122 carries out a processing for reading data in theconfiguration format from the external of the system, merging the rawmaterials contained in the data into the container contents and puttingthem into a reproducible state while reading the structural arrangementinformation.

The decoder 123 has a function for carrying out a series of processingfor the given contents in the distribution format, in which thecontracting processing is carried out by communicating with the contentsserver 13. the key is acquired, and the contents are decrypted so as tooutput the contents in the reproducible state.

The validater 124 checks the validity of the key contained in the targetcontents in the distribution format and updates the lifetime of the keyor re-acquires the contents according to the need.

The encoder 125 carries out the encryption by assigning the chargingcontract with respect to the container contents contained in thecontents in the configuration format formed by the archiver 121. Theencoder 125 also carries out a processing for inserting the contents inthe distribution format obtained by assigning the contract term to thecontainer contents into the contents in the configuration format, andoutputting the resulting contents in the configuration format and thekey.

The processing of the contents editor 12 is as follows.

First, the archiver 121 reads one container contents into which zero ormore raw material contents are to be incorporated. When there are morethan one raw materials, the structural arrangement of each raw materialin the container contents is determined according to the operation ofthe creator entered by an editing tool, and recorded as the structuralarrangement information in the configuration format contents. It shouldbe noted here that this editing tool only determines the structuralarrangement and does not change the contents themselves (so as toprevent the alteration of the contents by the others).

Then, the container contents in the distribution format obtained byassigning the contract term is inserted into the configuration formatcontents. The resulting configuration format contents and the key arethen outputted.

<Contents Server>

The contents server 13 is a Web server having a function for managingand delivering keys. More specifically, the contents server 13 has afunction for carrying out the contracting processing by being connectedwith the contents client 11, and returning a corresponding key inresponse when the contract is correctly executed. The contents server 13may also have an optional function for delivering the contents in theconfiguration format.

[Content Client Constituent Components Algorithms]

The contents client 11 comprises the recomposer 111, the decoder 112,the validater 113, the saver 114 and the player 115, as shown in FIG. 6.The algorithm for each component constituting the contents client 11will be described here.

<Recomposer algorithm>

The recomposer 111 carries out a processing for reading data in theconfiguration format from the external of the system, merging the rawmaterials contained in the data into the container contents and puttingthem into a reproducible state while reading the structural arrangementinformation. This function can be realized by a procedure of therecomposer algorithm shown in FIG. 7, as follows.

First, at the step S71, the container contents in the distributionformat are taken out, and the decryption processing is carried out atthe decoder 12 (this decryption processing will be described in thedecoder algorithm below). As a result, if the decryption is successful,the processing proceeds to the step S72, whereas if the decryption isfailure, the processing proceeds to the step S78 where the processing isterminated in an abnormal state.

At the step S72, whether there is any raw material contents that havenot been set as the decryption target or not. If there is, theprocessing proceeds to the step S73, whereas otherwise the processingskips to the step S77.

At the step S73, one raw material contents that have not been set as thedecryption target is taken out, and its data format is checked. As aresult, if its data format is the distribution format, the processingproceeds to the step S74, whereas if its data format is theconfiguration format, this algorithm is called up recursively by usingthis contents as input.

At the step S74, the decryption processing for the taken out rawmaterial contents is carried out at the decoder 112. As a result, if thedecryption is successful, the processing proceeds to the step S75,whereas if the decryption is failure, the processing proceeds to thestep S76.

At the step S75, the structural arrangement information for the rawmaterial contents decrypted at the step S74 is read, and the rawmaterial contents are merged with the container contents decrypted atthe step S71.

At the step S76, whether there is any raw material contents that havenot been set as the decrypted target or not. If there is, the processingreturns to the step S73, whereas otherwise the processing proceeds tothe step S77.

At the step S77, the contents merged by the above processing aretransmitted to the player 115 and the processing proceeds to the stepS79 where the processing is terminated in a normal state.

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the algorithm for realizing the functionof the decoder 112 will be described.

<Decoder Algorithm>

The decoder 112 has a function for carrying out a series of processingfor the given contents in the distribution format, in which thecontracting processing is carried out by communicating with the contentsserver 13. the key is acquired, and the contents are decrypted so as tooutput the contents in the reproducible state. This processing is calledup as a sub-routine of the processing of the recomposer algorithm shownin FIG. 7.

This decoder algorithm will now be described with reference to FIG. 8.Note however that the key validity verification will be describedseparately in the validater algorithm shown in FIG. 9 below. Also, theexchange for the contracting procedure with the contents server 13 willbe described separately in the key acquisition algorithm shown in FIG.10 below.

First, at the step S81, the key field in the contrast state 21 of FIG. 2is checked and whether the key is already contained in the data or notis judged. As a result, if the key is contained, the processing proceedsto the step S82, whereas if the key is not contained, the processingproceeds to the step S83.

At the step S82, whether the key is valid or not is judged by using thevalidater. As a result, if the key is valid, the processing proceeds tothe step S84, whereas if the key is invalid, the processing proceeds tothe step S83.

At the step S83, the key acquisition processing is carried out bycommunicating with the contents server 13 (this key acquisitionprocessing will be described in the key acquisition algorithm below).Then, if the key acquisition is successful, the processing proceeds tothe step S84, whereas if the key acquisition is failure, the processingproceeds to the step S86 where the processing is terminal in an abnormalstate.

At the step S84, the decryption of the contents using the acquired bythe above processing is attempted. Then, if the decryption issuccessful, the processing proceeds to the step S85 where the processingis terminated in a normal state, whereas if the decryption is failure,the processing proceeds to the step S86 where the processing is terminalin an abnormal state.

Next, the algorithm for realizing the function of the validater 113 willbe described with reference to FIG. 9.

<Validater Algorithm>

The validater 113 checks the validity of the key contained in the targetcontents in the distribution format and updates the lifetime of the keyor re-acquires the contents according to the need. This processing iscalled up as a sub-routine in the processing of the decoder algorithmshown in FIG. 8, and returns the check result regarding the keyvalidity, according to FIG. 9 as follows.

First, at the step S91, the lifetime specifying format recorded in thekey is checked. As a result, if the specifying format is date and time,the processing proceeds to the step S92, whereas if the specifyingformat is the remaining number of times for reproduction, the processingproceeds to the step S93.

At the step S92, whether it is still within the valid period of thespecified lifetime now or not is checked. As a result, if it is withinthe valid period, the processing proceeds to the step S98 where theprocessing is terminated in a normal state for indicating that the keyis valid, whereas if it is not within the valid period, the processingproceeds to the step S96.

At the step S93, whether there is any remaining number of times forreproduction or not is checked. As a result, if there is, the processingproceeds to the step S94, whereas otherwise the processing proceeds tothe step S96.

At the step S94, the lifetime recorded in the key is updated by reducingthe remaining number of times for reproduction by one, and theprocessing proceeds to the step S95 where the processing is terminatedin a normal state for indicating that the key is valid.

At the step S96, the key is deleted, and the processing proceeds to thestep S97 where the processing is terminated in an abnormal state forindicating that the key is invalid.

Next, the algorithm for realizing the function of the key acquisitionwill be described with reference to FIG. 10. The key acquisitionalgorithm by the decoder is as follows.

<Key Acquisition Algorithm>

The decoder 112 that is a constituent element of the contents client 11will attempt the key acquisition by communicating with the contentsserver 13 when the valid key is not contained in the processing targetcontents. This processing is called up as a sub-routine in theprocessing of the decoder algorithm shown in FIG. 8.

This processing is basically the same as the typical processing of CGIor the like and there is nothing special, but it is characterized inthat the contents server returns a key instead of returning a Web pagewhen the server processing is correctly executed.

In the following the acquisition algorithm will be described withreference to FIG. 10. Note that it is preferable to introduce thesecurity technique for preventing the eavesdropping, for example, inthis processing, but this can be done by using the well known methodsuch as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer: a technique for protecting thesecurity of data to be exchanged between a WWW browser and a WWW server)so that this aspect will not be described here.

First, at the step S11, the decoder 112 acquires a Web page in thecontract describing form format from the contents server 13 according tothe URL in the contract term of the target contents.

Next, at the step S12, the decoder 112 pops up a dialog box fordisplaying the acquired form page. Then, the end-user enters necessaryitems into the displayed contract page and clicks the GUI portion on theWeb page that has a function for sending that information. As a result,the various information regarding the contract is transmitted from thedecoder 112 to the contents server 13. This information includes theGUID information of the target contents.

Next, at the step S13, the contents server 13 analyzes the contractinformation from the decoder 112 and checks its validity.

Next, at the step S 14, if the contract information is valid, thecontents server 13 carries out the contracting processing (such as thecharging processing, for example), returns the corresponding key to thedecoder 112, and terminates the processing in a normal state. Note thatthe corresponding key is identified by searching through a key database131 of FIG. 6 provided inside the contents server 13, according to theGUID information of the contents that is sent from the decoder 112 atthe step S12. If the corresponding key cannot be found or the contractinformation is not valid, the error code is transmitted to the decoder112 and the processing is terminated in an abnormal state.

<Player>

The player 115 which is a constituent element of the contents client 11is a dedicated reproduction unit of this system. In the contents client11 of this system, in order to prevent the leakage of the contents inthe decrypted state, the decrypted contents can be given only to thisbuilt-in player 115 at a time of reproducing the decrypted contents, andno external application will be used.

The player 115 receives the contents converted in the reproductionformat by the decoder 112, and reproduces that contents. Depending oncontents, there can be various players such as that for displaying Webpages, that for playing music, that for displaying images, etc.

Optionally, it is also possible to make this player 115 such that, evenwhen the contents given from the decoder 112 contains non-decrypted rawmaterials, the player 115 makes the best effort to reproduce theremaining portions as much as possible while not reproducing thesenon-decrypted raw materials only. For example, when the contents is aWeb page, the place holders can be arranged for the non-decrypted rawmaterial portions, and the remaining portions can be displayed.

In this way, this system uses a mechanism by which the contentsreproduction is possible only by the built-in player 115.

One of the features of the present invention is the use of aconfiguration in which the contents reproduction is possible only by thebuilt-in player 115 in order to surely prevent the leakage of thecontents in the decrypted state. Namely, in this system, thereproduction of the decrypted contents is possible by giving thedecrypted contents only to this built-in player 115 without utilizingany external application. This is a mechanism for preventing the leakageof the contents to the external application.

Next, the saver 114 will be described.

<Saver>

The saver 114 which is a constituent element of the contents client 11provides a function for saving the contents under the processing by therecomposer 111 into a file system in the configuration format. At thispoint, if there are decrypted data among the container contents and theraw material contents contained in the contents given from therecomposer 111, the saver 114 saves them after converting them into theoriginal encrypted state. Note however that the saver 114 functions suchthat the key embedded in the contract state will remain in the embeddedstate and not removed.

In this way, a mechanism by which the contents saved on the file systemcannot be viewed from the other applications is realized, and it ispossible to realize a function for resuming the contracting processingfrom a middle when the contents client 11 is read next time, because thekey is remaining inside.

<Contents Editor>

The contents editor 12 has the archiver 121 and the encoder 125 as shownin FIG. 6. The algorithm for each of these components will be describedhere.

<Archiver>

The archiver 121 in the contents editor 12 provides the editing functionfor inserting the raw material contents into the contents. Note howeverthat the contents that can be used as the container contents are limitedto those in the reproduction format. On the other hand, the raw materialcontents are allowed to have the data structure of either thereproduction format or the configuration format.

In the case where the data structure is the reproduction format, thecontents are merged at positions in the container contents as specifiedby the editing operation, whereas in the case where the data structureis the configuration format, the structural arrangement information isgenerated instead of merging the contents. Also, at a time of theediting, the raw materials will be reproduced, so that the raw materialcontents in the configuration format will be decrypted at a time ofreading.

This decryption processing is carried out by the recomposer 122, thedecoder 123 and the validater 124, using the same method as thealgorithm described for the contents client 11.

When the editing operation is eventually finished, the archiver 121produces the structural arrangement information of each raw materialcontents within the container contents according to the editing result,and produces one configuration format contents combining the containercontents and the raw material contents. At this point, the keyscontained in the raw material contents are all removed.

<Encoder>

The encoder 125 in the contents editor 12 applies the encryption byassigning the charging contract to the container contents contained inthe contents in the configuration format produced by the archiver 121.This function is realized by the algorithm shown in FIG. 11 as follows.

namely, the encoder 125 first executes the processing of the step S111where the empty contract state field and GUID field are added to thecontainer contents to put it formally into the distribution format.

Next, at the step S12, the URL corresponding to the contractingprocessing is entered by the user, and this URL is written into thecontracting procedure field 21 a of FIG. 2. Here, however, the URL willnot be written in the case where the contract is not required.

Next, at the step S113, when the URL of the contracting procedure isgiven at the step S12, the contents is encrypted and the key isobtained.

Next, at the step S114, GUID is generated and written into the GUIDfields of the contents and the key. Here, any one of the well knownmethods can be used for the GUID generation algorithm.

Next, at the step S115, the lifetime of the key is entered by the user,and its value is written into the lifetime field 21 c 3 of FIG. 3.

<Contents Server>

The contents server 13 carries out the contracting processing with thedecoder 112 of the contents client 11 as described with reference toFIG. 10, and the processing for returning a key in response. In order torealize this function, the contents server 13 is implemented in a formof a Web server, and the key database 131 of FIG. 6 is provided inside.Optionally, the contents server 13 may be capable of transmitting thecontents in response to a request.

The contents distribution system of this embodiment in the abovedescribed configuration is a middleware related to the network that isaimed at executing contracts and exchanging contents through HTTP.

In this contents distribution system, the conventional chargingprocessing system is expanded to be able to handle a new data formatcalled “configuration format” in addition to the conventionally useddata formats called “reproduction format” and “distribution format”.Also, in the system configuration, two devices (functional components)called “archiver” and “recomposer” are added to the conventionalcharging processing system. These two devices (functional components)are made to function in cooperation with the “decoder” and the “encoder”of the conventional charging processing system. Note that the decoder isa device for reading data in the distribution format and converting itinto the reproduction format, and the encoder is a device for producingdata in the distribution format from the ordinary reproducible contents.

The configuration format employed in the present invention is a dataformat for expressing the composite contents which are formed from aplurality of charged genuine contents, which is the data structure to beused at a time of distribution, that is, the data structure of thecontents to be utilized by the end-user.

More specifically, the data in the configuration format comprises thefollowing three elements:

(1) the genuine contents in the distribution format which are to be usedas raw materials;

(2) the container contents in the distribution format for putting thesegenuine contents together; and

(3) a list of the structural arrangement information for each rawmaterial contents within the container contents.

In this configuration format, each raw material contents in thedistribution format in a state by which they are acquired and theirconstruction method are maintained separately, rather than mixing theseraw materials into one contents, and the end-user cannot use each rawmaterial unless the end-user purchases each raw material.

Note that the structural arrangement information can be given in variousforms depending on the target media types. For example, when the productis a 3D computer graphics work, the structural arrangement informationcan be given by coordinates, direction, etc. in the three dimensionalspace of model parts to be used as the raw materials. Also, when theproduct is a Web page, the structural arrangement information can begiven by information as to whether the raw material page is to beinserted into a tag such as a container page, for example.

The recomposer 111 is a device for interpreting the data in theconfiguration format and reconstructing it in a reproducible state,which is used in the preliminary processing for making the contentsutilizable at the contents client 11 that is a device to be used by theend-user. The recomposer 111 sequentially enters the raw materials inthe distribution format that are contained in the data in theconfiguration format into the decoder 112 to have them decrypted. Inthis process, the contracting procedure regarding the contentsutilization is carried out, and the fee for each raw material is paid tothe raw material provider. The raw material that is successfullydecrypted is then appropriately merged with the container contentsaccording to the structural arrangement information for that rawmaterial. Finally, the contents in which all the raw materials that aresuccessfully decrypted are merged with the container contents is givento the reproduction device.

By using such a mechanism, when the end-user purchases the secondaryproduct contents, the contracting processing with respect to each one ofthe copyright holders related to the raw materials and the secondaryproduct will be carried out by the end-user.

On the other hand, the archiver 121 is a device for generating thecontents in the configuration format, which is used in the contentseditor 12 that is a device of the secondary product creator. Thearchiver 121 reads the raw materials in the distribution formatspecified by the secondary product creator, and adds them to theconfiguration format contents, or determined the structural arrangementof each raw material within the container contents and records thestructural arrangement information in the configuration format contentsaccording to the operation of the secondary product creator.

The basic functions can be realized by the configuration describedabove, but it is still preferable to be able to incorporate not only thegenuine contents but also the composite contents as the raw materials.When the contents to be used as the raw materials are limited to thegenuine contents, it implies that only a single stage of the re-use ofcontents as the raw material is allowed. In contrast, when it is madepossible to incorporate not only the genuine contents but also thecomposite contents as the raw materials of the composite contents, itbecomes possible to continue the contents re-use chain indefinitely inprinciple.

With this extension, it is possible to expect the effect of promotingthe contents re-use further. Note however that the execution of thecharging contract with respect to each raw material provider must beguaranteed even in this extension.

In order to realize this extension, there is a need to extend theconfiguration format such that not only the distribution format but alsothe configuration format can be used as the data format of the rawmaterials to be incorporated into the composite contents, and to extendthe function of the recomposer such that the recomposer can read data inthat extended configuration format, incorporate them as the rawmaterials into the composite contents, and properly execute the chargingprocessing of the license type with respect to such composite contents.

As for the extension of the configuration format, it can be realized byproviding a list of “each raw material in the distribution format or theconfiguration format” instead of a list of “each raw material in thedistribution format”.

The extension of the recomposer can be realized as follows. In theprocess for sequentially decrypting the raw materials contained in theprocessing target composite contents, the recomposer can be made tofunction such that each extracted raw material in the distributionformat will be sent to the decoder for decrypting it similarly as in theabove but each extracted raw material in the configuration format willbe recursively processed by the recomposer itself. Namely, therecomposer interrupts the current processing once, initializes theinternal state, and converts the contents in the reproduction formatobtained by executing the decryption processing and the constructingprocessing on the raw material in the configuration format, back to itsinitial processing state. By this processing, all the raw materialscontained in the entered composite contents will be decrypted after thecharging processing is carried out and then they are re-constructed inthe reproducible state.

Also, when the CDL is introduced, it becomes possible for the contentsclient 11 to ascertain the fee or items of each contract, so that itbecomes possible to provide an assistance regarding the payments such asreminding the current payment amount to the end-user, automaticallywriting items necessary for making the contract, etc. These functionswill be referred to as the user agent functions.

In the following, the extended CDL decoder and CDL contents server to beused in the contents charging system using CDL will be described.

<Contract Definition Language (CDL)>

First, the contract definition language (CDL) will be described. Notethat the CDL is only an example, but the language having the equivalentdefining function is necessary in order to realize the contents chargingsystem, although the grammar can be different.

FIGS. 12A and 12B shows two exemplary contracts written in the CDL. FIG.12A is an exemplary description for the case where the commercial usewill be charged but the non-commercial use is free, and FIG. 12B is anexemplary description for the case where the secondary product creatorpays all the raw material fees of the composite contents.

As shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, in the CDL, the contract is definedbetween brackets of a form “contract {}”. The contract comprises“profile {}”, “requirements {}”and “action {}”, which respectivelydefine the profile of the contract, the items required for the contractexecution, and the side effect action.

In the profile of the contract, “price”, “URL of a server for executingthe contract (processor)”, “URL for a screen design to be used at a timeof entering the contract items (style)”, and “corresponding card companyname (card-company)” must be defined. However, if the price is \0, thereis no need to define the others.

The items required for the contract execution can include:

-   -   “client's name (client-name)”    -   “client's address (client-address)”    -   “client's telephone number (client-phone no)”    -   card company to be used for payment (card-company)”    -   card number (card-account)”as well as    -   “actual payer's name (carduser-name)”    -   payer's address (carduser-address)”    -   payer's telephone number (carduser-phone no)” in anticipation of        the cases where a person different from the client will be pay        for the client.

Note that these items are not indispensable and the actual items to berequired can be selected from them. Also, the default value can bedefined for each item after “=” symbol. In the example of FIG. 12A, thedefault values of the payer's name, address and telephone number are setto be the client's name, address and telephone number.

The side effect action can be described as a procedure. As a type ofaction that can be executed, only “contract execution” is provided inthis example. The contract execution is described as a method, in such aform as “executing party, contract ID (argument list)”. The contractobject can be described as “CI object name [contract number]”. Theexecuting party is specified by using the contract object. An owner ofthe specified contract object will be the executing party. This can beomitted.

Also, the contracts for different contents contained in the compositecontents can be specified by using the following contract objects.

“container[n]”

“containee[n]”

Here, “container[n]” indicates the contract for the container contentsinto which the contract assigned contents is to be incorporated. Thecomposite contents can be recursively incorporated into anothercomposite contents, and its nest level is specified by the affix [n].

Also, “containee[n]” indicates the contract for the n-th lower level rawmaterial incorporated in this contents itself, where n is a positiveinteger. This “n” becomes arbitrary when “?” is specified for “n”. Forexample, when it is desired to specify the arbitrary contracts of theraw materials directly contained in this contents itself,“containee[1][?]” can be used.

The argument list is a list of arguments representing items required forthe contract, which are partitioned by commas. Each argument isdescribed as “item name =value”. For example, in the case of executingthe arbitrary contracts of the raw materials directly contained in thiscontents itself by specifying the client's name, address, and telephonenumber, the argument list becomes as follows.

containee[1][?](client-name =“Shin-ichiro Hamada”,

-   -   client-address =“XXXXX”,    -   client-phone no =“XXX-XXX-XXXX”)

Finally, the multi-valued definition and the value transfer for thepattern matching will be described. The pattern is described as anargument of “when”. Note that “otherwise” matches in the context thatdoes not match with all “when” clauses. Targets of comparison that canbe described are the contract objects and the reserving predicate.

As the reserving predicate, “charging” is provided for indicating theact of charging. As the comparison operator, “==” is provided, whichbecomes true when both sides coincide. Also, wildcards “?” and “*” thatindicate arbitrary are provided, where “?” indicates one that makes thecondition true and “*” indicates all that make the condition true. Also,the description “[]” following the object indicates the constraintcondition with respect to that object.

Also, “% n” (where n is a positive integer) has the same meaning as “?”but it can be referred to in a block within “when”. Also, “% n*” (wheren is a positive integer” has the same meaning as “*” but it can bereferred to in a block within “when”.

In the example shown in FIG. 12B, it is defined that all the chargingcontracts among the contents contained in this contents itself arematched with “% 1*”, and the contract execution is carried out for thesecontracts. The interpretation of this multi-valued definition is madeprior to the contract execution described in the CDL.

The linguistic features of the CDL are briefly described above. Next,the examples of the CDL shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B will be explained.

In the example shown in FIG. 12A, the contract is defined by multipledefinitions. One definition is applied in the case where any of thecontracts for the contents into which this contents itself is to beincorporated is charging. Among the items listed as the required items,the payer's name, address and telephone number have the default valuesgiven so that they do not appear on an input screen of the end-user, butthey can be specified by the other contracts as an action. The seconddefinition is applied to all the other cases. No charging is involved sothat there are no input items.

The example shown in FIG. 12B is aimed at unifying the user payments,and the action is defined by conditions. The action given there matchesin the case where any of the contracts for the contents incorporatedinto this contents itself is charging, and defines that the creator ofthis contents itself pays for them. As the required items of thiscontract, the client information entered with respect to this contentsitself is given as it is, and the own credit information is given inrelation to the payment. By setting the executing party of this actionas “container”, the raw material provider can receive the rental feefrom the secondary product creator.

<Data Structure in the Distribution Format Using CDL>

In the contents charging system, the CDL is used for the “contractingprocedure” instead of the URL as in the data structure in thedistribution format using CDL shown in FIG. 13. The other features ofFIG. 13 are the same as those of FIG. 2A.

<CDL Contents Server>

The CDL contents server 13 can have the same mechanism as the providerside contract interpreter in the contents distribution system. However,the following point must be accounted.

Namely, the style of the Web page for entering the contract items is tobe provided in the XSL format. The decoder generates XML according tothe items required for the contract defined in the CDL, and XSL fordisplaying that XML is to be downloaded from the contents server.

<CDL Decoder>

The CDL decoder 123 executes the contract by interpreting the CDL. Thealgorithm for the language processing and the contract execution by theCDL decoder 123 is as shown in FIG. 14.

At the step S141, all the conditional clauses (when) of the CDL arechecked and all the blocks that do not match the conditions areinvalidated.

Next, at the step S142, the “requirements” of the CDL are extracted andan XML (Extensible Markup Language) document is generated. At thispoint, each item name is used as an element name in the XML, and eachitem value is used as an element value in the XML. The item values areempty at this point.

Next, at the step S143, the style sheet is extracted from the style itemin the profile of the CDL and applied to the generated XML document.

Then, at the step S144, the dialog box for displaying the applied Webpage is popped up to urge the contracting processing to the user. Thiscontracting processing is carried out by the same algorithm as that ofthe key acquisition described with reference to FIG. 10.

Then, at the step S145, the “action” is extracted and executed. Thecontract that is a target of the “action” and its parameters areidentified, and POST or GET is carried out with respect to the contentsserver without urging any input to the user.

<User Agent>

Besides these, the exemplary extension as the user agent can be made asfollows.

The first function to be provided as the user agent is a “total amountestimation function”. This function reads all the CDL descriptionscontained in the contents, calculates a total amount in advance, andnotified the total amount to the user. With this function, the user canjudge whether or not to purchase that contents after learning its price.

The second function to be provided as the user agent is a “user walletmanagement function”, This function stores the paid amount whenever thepurchase is made, and presents how much the user has paid up to thatpoint, to the user.

The third function to be provided as the user agent is a “user inputassisting function”. This function stores the profile of the user andautomatically fills the items required in the “requirements” at a timeof executing the contract, As a result, in the popped up contract pagein the form format, the items such as user's name, user's address,user's telephone number, credit company name, and credit card number arealready filled from the beginning, so that the contract page is in astate where it suffices to just press a “send” button.

As described above, the present invention proposes a contentsutilization scheme called “copyright rental use scheme” in which theeconomical burden on the users at a time of utilizing contents can bereduced to a reasonable level, and appropriate fees can be collected forthe copyrights of the contents created and provided at each stage by theraw material creators and the secondary product creators, as well as acharging system for carrying out the charging processing as a support tothe contents utilization in the copyright rental use scheme.

The copyright rental use scheme is a contents utilization scheme inwhich “the secondary product creator transfers the payment for the rawmaterial utilization right to the end-user of the secondary product”. Inshort, this is a business model in which it is the end-user, not thesecondary product creator, who eventually purchases the raw materialcontents, and the secondary product creator can creates the secondaryproduct contents by incorporating the raw material contents for free,and sell the secondary product contents. This is a business model inwhich the end-user of the secondary product contents pays respectiveutilization fees (the secondary product fee and the raw material fee) tothe secondary product creator and each raw material provider at a timeof the purchasing the secondary product contents.

In the case of adopting the copyright rental use scheme, it is theend-user of the contents who purchases the raw materials. There are fargreater number of end-users of the contents compared with the secondaryproduct creators, so that there is an advantage that the raw materialprovider can suppress the raw material sales price low. On the otherhand, it is possible to expect a synergy effect that the secondaryproduct creator can utilize the raw materials without any initialinvestment so that the factor for preventing the active utilization ofthe raw materials disappears. In the conventional contents utilizationmodel using the buy up scheme, there is a need to compare the initialinvestment required for the raw materials with the effort required forthe creation plus the sales of the created product, which could be afactor for preventing the raw material utilization. For these tworeasons, the contents utilization business model using the copyrightrental use scheme can be a very effective model for the contents rawmaterial sales business.

No such business model has been known in the real world. One of thepossible reasons for explaining this fact is that, even if such abusiness model is contemplated in the real word, there is no reasonableway for the raw material provider to surely collect the raw material feefrom the end-user. Another possible reason is that, in the copyrightrental use scheme, the end-user who is a customer must pay respectiveutilization fees to a plurality of copyright holders and this willincrease the burden of the end-user in a form of time and effortrequired for the payments, so that it is not easily acceptable as asales style. However, in the present invention system, the formerproblem is resolved by theoretically guaranteeing the accuratemonitoring of all the transaction acts, and the latter problem isresolved by providing an operation assistant mechanism for unifying thepayments.

In the real world, the license type charging model in which eachcopyright holder receives the income according to the sales of the worksuch as the royalty with respect to the published work like music CD orbook is also often employed. The contents utilization model using thecopyright rental use scheme can emulate such a license type chargingmodel as well. For example, in the case of music CD, it is possible toconsider the model in which prices for respective raw material contentsprovided by copyright holders such as a songwriter, a composer, anarranger, and a singer can be set in advance, and the music CD can beregarded as contents constructed from these raw material contents.

Also, in the above, it is assumed that there is no charging between thesecondary product creator and the raw material provider, but inpractice, there can be cases where the raw material provider wishes tocollect some rental fee (corresponding to the neighboring rights) fromthe secondary product creator depending on the power relationshipbetween the raw material and the secondary product such as a name valuedifference or a share difference, or conversely there can be cases whereit is more appropriate for the raw material provider to pay anadvertisement fee to the secondary product creator in a sense that theincorporation of the raw material in the secondary product can promotethe sales of the raw material.

In such cases, there is a need to make the monetary transaction betweenthe secondary product creator and the raw material provider possible. Asan application of this function, it is also possible to make such acontract that, \100 will be charged if the own contents are incorporatedinto the other contents as a raw material and the other contents areintended for the purpose of the commercial use, but there is no chargeif the other contents are intended for non-commercial use, for example.It is also possible to consider the extension in which it is possible tospecify the number of times or the period of time for which the contentscan be reproduced by introducing a concept of the lifetime with respectto a contents encryption key.

In this contents distribution system, the conventional chargingprocessing system is expanded to be able to handle a new data formatcalled “configuration format” in addition to the conventionally useddata formats called “reproduction format” and “distribution format”.Also, in the system configuration, two devices (functional components)called “archiver” and “recomposer” are added to the conventionalcharging processing system. These two devices (functional components)are made to function in cooperation with the “decoder” and the “encoder”of the conventional charging processing system. Note that the decoder isa device for reading data in the distribution format and converting itinto the reproduction format, and the encoder is a device for producingdata in the distribution format from the ordinary reproducible contents.

The configuration format is a data format for expressing the compositecontents which are formed from a plurality of charged genuine contents,which is to be used at a time of distribution. More specifically, thedata in the configuration format comprises the following three elements:

(1) the genuine contents in the distribution format which are to be usedas raw materials;

(2) the container contents in the distribution format for putting thesegenuine contents together; and

(3) a list of the structural arrangement information for each rawmaterial contents within the container contents.

In this configuration format, each raw material contents in thedistribution format in a state by which they are acquired and theirconstruction method are maintained separately, rather than mixing theseraw materials into one contents, and the end-user cannot use each rawmaterial unless the end-user purchases each raw material.

Note that the structural arrangement information can be given in variousforms depending on the target media types. For example, when the productis a 3D computer graphics work, the structural arrangement informationcan be given by coordinates, direction, etc. in the three dimensionalspace of model parts to be used as the raw materials. Also, when theproduct is a Web page, the structural arrangement information can begiven by information as to whether the raw material page is to beinserted into a tag such as a container page, for example.

The recomposer is a device for interpreting the data in theconfiguration format and reconstructing it in a reproducible state,which is to be used by the end-user. The recomposer sequentially entersthe raw materials in the distribution format that are contained in thedata in the configuration format into the decoder to have themdecrypted. In this process, the fee for each raw material is paid to theraw material provider. The raw material that is successfully decryptedis then appropriately merged with the container contents according tothe structural arrangement information for that raw material. Finally,the contents in which all the raw materials that are successfullydecrypted are merged with the container contents is given to thereproduction device.

By using such a mechanism, when the end-user purchases the secondaryproduct contents, the contracting processing with respect to each one ofthe copyright holders related to the raw materials and the secondaryproduct will be carried out by the end-user.

On the other hand, the archiver is a device for generating the contentsin the configuration format, which is to be used by the secondaryproduct creator. The archiver reads the raw materials in thedistribution format specified by the secondary product creator, and addsthem to the configuration format contents, or determined the structuralarrangement of each raw material within the container contents andrecords the structural arrangement information in the configurationformat contents according to the operation of the secondary productcreator.

In the present invention, it is also possible to incorporate not onlythe genuine contents but also the composite contents as the rawmaterials. When the contents to be used as the raw materials are limitedto the genuine contents, it implies that only a single stage of there-use of contents as the raw material is allowed. In contrast, when itis made possible to incorporate not only the genuine contents but alsothe composite contents as the raw materials of the composite contents,it becomes possible to continue the contents re-use chain indefinitelyin principle. With this extension, it is possible to expect the effectof promoting the contents re-use. Note however that the execution of thecharging contract with respect to each raw material provider must beguaranteed even in this extension.

In order to realize this extension, there is a need to extend theconfiguration format such that not only the distribution format but alsothe configuration format can be used as the data format of the rawmaterials to be incorporated into the composite contents, and to extendthe function of the recomposer such that the recomposer can read data inthat extended configuration format, incorporate them as the rawmaterials into the composite contents, and properly execute the chargingprocessing of the license type with respect to such composite contents.

In this case, the extension of the configuration format can be realizedby providing a list of “each raw material in the distribution format orthe configuration format” instead of a list of “each raw material in thedistribution format”.

The extension necessary in the recomposer can be realized in such a waythat, in the process for sequentially decrypting the raw materialscontained in the processing target composite contents, the recomposerfunctions such that each extracted raw material in the distributionformat will be sent to the decoder for decrypting it similarly as in theabove but each extracted raw material in the configuration format willbe recursively processed by the recomposer itself. Namely, therecomposer interrupts the current processing once, initializes theinternal state, and converts the contents in the reproduction formatobtained by executing the decryption processing and the constructingprocessing on the raw material in the configuration format, back to itsinitial processing state. By this processing, all the raw materialscontained in the entered composite contents will be decrypted after thecharging processing is carried out and then they are re-constructed inthe reproducible state.

Also, in the present invention, in order to handle the monetary contractbetween the secondary product creator and the raw material provider, thecontract definition language with the following description functionsand a processing system for interpreting and executing this language areprovided.

(1) A description for indicating each contract contained in thecontents.

(2) A description of properties indicating features of the contract.

(3) A description of conditions regarding the contract.

(4) A description of action such as payment.

Note that, for the properties of the above item (2), there is a need tospecify at least a price, a fee payer, a fee receiver, a payment method,and a list of indispensable items to be inquired to the client. Theindispensable items to be inquired to the client include name, age,address, e-mail address, card company name, credit number, etc., forexample.

The fee payer can be specified by this contract definition language sothat it is possible to handle the monetary contract between thesecondary product creator and the raw material provider, such as thepayment of the rental fee from the secondary product creator to the rawmaterial provider, which can be realized in such a way that the rawmaterial provider specifies the secondary product creator as a payer inthe raw material in advance, or conversely the payment of theadvertisement fee from the raw material provider to the secondaryproduct creator (which can be handled as a payment of the negativeamount, for example).

In addition, in this contract definition language, the multi-valueddefinition, the re-definition, and the dynamical definition change ofthe contract terms can be described.

For example, as the re-definition of the contract terms, it is possibleto use such a definition that “each raw material fee to be paid by theend-user will be paid by the secondary product creator instead”, forexample. In the case where many raw materials are used so that even theraw material fees of the composite contents alone become too high, thesecondary product creator pays the raw material fees for the end-userand receives an appropriate product fee from the end-user instead ofthat. In this case, the secondary product creator will have an overallloss (whenever the secondary product is sold), but it is possible to setan appropriate price for the composite contents created by himself. Inthis case, there is a need to describe “how much should be paid by whichpayment method with respect to which contract” as the action of thepayment instead of the end-user. Which contract can be described by theabove item (1) and how much and which method can be described by theabove item (4).

As the charging definition of the contract, it is possible to use theselective contract declaration such as “\100 will be charged if the owncontents are incorporated into the other contents as a raw material andthe other contents are intended for the purpose of the commercial use,but there is no charge if the other contents are intended fornon-commercial use”, for example. In this case, there is a need for thecondition description of “whether the composite contents into which theown contents are incorporated is charged or not”, and to this end, thecharging for the composite contents can be referred by using the aboveitems (1) and (2), and the condition description for this referring canbe made by using the above item (3). Then, it suffices to make thecontract definition by using the above item (2) for each condition.

The contract definition language processing system is activated in orderto interpret and execute the contract definition language at a time ofcarrying out the decryption processing at the recomposer. Thisprocessing system provides three functions including a filteringfunction for extracting only the action and the contract that match withthe condition description, a checking function for checking whether theextracted contract satisfies the contract conditions, and an executingfunction for executing the actual payment action.

As described, the system of the present invention adopts the contentsutilization model in the copyright rental use scheme. In the case wherethe copyright rental use scheme is adopted, it is the end-user of thecontents who purchases the raw materials. There are far greater numberof end-users of the contents compared with the secondary productcreators, so that there is an advantage that the raw material providercan suppress the raw material sales price low. On the other hand, thesecondary product creator can utilize the raw materials without anyinitial investment so that the factor for preventing the activeutilization of the raw materials disappears.

In the conventional contents utilization model using the buy up schemewhich is the most general business style for the contents trades, thereis a need to compare the initial investment required for the rawmaterials with the effort required for the creation plus the sales ofthe created product, which could be a factor for preventing the rawmaterial utilization. For these two reasons, the contents utilizationbusiness model using the copyright rental use scheme can be a veryeffective model for the contents raw material sales business.

Also, in the case of providing Web pages as the contents, the Web pagesare media in which it is easier to combine or process the contentscompared with the other contents such as music or paintings. Forexample, it is possible to consider the case where articles picked upfrom a news site are provided with the commentaries attached.Consequently, the business method of the present invention can be veryeffective for the Web page contents market.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide asystem in which the economical burden of the secondary product creatorscan be reduced, the burden on the users at a time of utilizing thecontents created by the secondary product creators can be reduced to areasonable level, and the sales volumes can be increased for both theraw material providers and the secondary product creators, such that aremarkable expansion of the business becomes possible.

In the present invention, at a time of selling the contents constructedas a secondary product by incorporting the charged contents as rawmaterials, each of the raw materials and the secondary product areencrypted, and the contract information for making the utilizationcontracts with each of the raw material providers and the secondaryproduct creator through a network is attached to each of the rawmaterials and the secondary product. The encryption key used in theencryption is registered at a server, and delivered to the user who madethe utilization contract when the utilization contract is made.

The present invention proposes a mechanism in which, at a time ofdistributing the secondary product contents newly created by using thecharged raw material contents provided by the third parties, thesecondary product creator reserves the obligation to pay the rawmaterial contents utilization fees, and the respective contentsutilization fees are paid by the user at the final utilization stage(the utilization stage by the end-user). Namely, each of the rawmaterials and the secondary product are encrypted, and the contractinformation for making the utilization contracts with each of the rawmaterial providers and the secondary product creator through a networkis attached to each of the raw materials and the secondary product. Theend-user makes the utilization contract with each of the raw materialproviders and the secondary product creator through the network by usingthe contract information. Then, the encryption key used in theencryption is delivered from the server to the end-user. By decryptingeach contents by using this encryption key, it becomes possible toutilize the secondary product contents utilizing the raw materials. Theutilization contract with each of the raw material providers and thesecondary product creator is made through the network so that it ispossible to realize a mechanism in which there is no need to pay the rawmaterials utilization fees at the secondary product creating stage, andall of them can be paid by the end-user.

As a result, the secondary product creator can be released from theeconomical burden for purchasing the raw materials, and because thereare far greater number of end-users compared with the secondary productcreators, it becomes possible to provide a system in which the burden onthe users at a time of utilizing the contents created by the secondaryproduct creators can be reduced to a reasonable level, and the salesvolumes can be increased for both the raw material providers and thesecondary product creators, such that a remarkable expansion of thebusiness becomes possible.

It is to be noted that the above described embodiments according to thepresent invention may be conveniently implemented using a conventionalgeneral purpose digital computer programmed according to the teachingsof the present specification, as will be apparent to those skilled inthe computer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared byskilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, aswill be apparent to those skilled in the software art.

In particular, each of the contents client, the contents editor, and thecontents server of the above described embodiments can be convenientlyimplemented in a form of a software package.

Such a software package can be a computer program product which employsa storage medium including stored computer code which is used to programa computer to perform the disclosed function and process of the presentinvention. The storage medium may include, but is not limited to, anytype of conventional floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs,magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or opticalcards, or any other suitable media for storing electronic instructions.

It is also to be noted that, besides those already mentioned above, manymodifications and variations of the above embodiments may be madewithout departing from the novel and advantageous features of thepresent invention. Accordingly, all such modifications and variationsare intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A contents distribution system for enabling utilization of encryptedraw material contents which are provided from a raw material providerand encrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information fora contract processing to enable utilization of the raw material contentsis attached, from secondary product contents produced by a secondaryproduct contents producer which contain one or more encrypted rawmaterial contents. the contents distribution system comprising: a serverconfigured to maintain the encryption key of the encrypted raw materialcontents; and a client connected with the server and including a decoderconfigured to acquire the encryption key from the server and decrypt theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key, byexecuting the contract processing with the server according to theinformation for the contract processing which is attached to specifiedraw material contents in the secondary product contents and containing(a) a contract procedure information described by a contract descriptionlanguage, (b) the encryption key for decrypting contents, and (c) aunique identifier assigned to each contents, and a player configured toreproduce decrypted contents; wherein the information for the contractprocessing contains a first description regarding a charge to anend-user by the raw material provider and the secondary product contentsproducer and a second description regarding a monetary transactioncharge between the raw material provider and the secondary productcontents producer, and when own contents are incorporated into othercontents, the second description is defined such that it is charged ifan incorporating entity is a commercial utilization and it is free if anincorporating entity is a non-commercial one.
 2. A contents distributionsystem for enabling utilization of secondary product contents producedby a secondary product contents producer which contain one or moreencrypted raw material contents which are provided from a raw materialprovider and encrypted by using an encryption key and to which aninformation for a contract processing to enable utilization of the rawmaterial contents is attached, the contents distribution systemcomprising: a server configured to maintain the encryption key of theencrypted raw material contents; and a client connected with the serverand including a decoder configured to acquire the encryption key fromthe server and decrypt the encrypted raw material contents by usingacquired encryption key, by executing the contract processing with theserver according to the information for the contract processing which isattached to the encrypted raw material contents in the secondary productcontents that are specified to be utilized and containing (a) a contractprocedure information described by a contract description language, (b)the encryption key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifierassigned to each contents, and a player configured to reproducedecrypted contents: wherein the information for the contract processingcontains a first description regarding a charge to an end-user by theraw material provider and the secondary product contents producer and asecond description regarding a monetary transaction charge between theraw material provider and the secondary product contents producer, andwhen own contents are incorporated into other contents, the seconddescription is defined such that it is charged if an incorporatingentity is a commercial utilization and it is free if an incorporatingentity is a non-commercial one.
 3. A contents distribution method forenabling utilization of encrypted raw material contents which areprovided from a raw material provider and encrypted by using anencryption key and to which an information for a contract processing toenable utilization of the raw material contents is attached, fromsecondary product contents produced by a secondary product contentsproducer which contain one or more encrypted raw material contents, thecontents distribution method comprising the steps of: maintaining theencryption key of the encrypted raw material contents at a server;acquiring the encryption key from the server and decrypting theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key at adecoder connected with the server, by executing the contract processingwith the server according to the information for the contract processingwhich is attached to specified and encrypted raw material contents inthe secondary product contents and containing (a) a contract procedureinformation described by a contract description language. (b) theencryption key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifierassigned to each contents; and reproducing contents decrypted by thedecoder, at a player; wherein the information for the contractprocessing contains a first description regarding a charge to anend-user by the raw material provider and the secondary product contentsproducer and a second description regarding a monetary transactioncharge between the raw material provider and the secondary productcontents producer, and when own contents are incorporated into othercontents, the second description is defined such that it is charged ifan incorporating entity is a commercial utilization and it is free if anincorporating entity is a non-commercial one.
 4. A contents distributionmethod for enabling utilization of secondary product contents producedby a secondary product contents producer which contain one or moreencrypted raw material contents which are provided from a raw materialprovider and encrypted by using an encryption key and to which aninformation for a contract processing to enable utilization of the rawmaterial contents is attached, the contents distribution methodcomprising the steps of: maintaining the encryption key of the encryptedraw material contents at a server; acquiring the encryption key from theserver and decrypting the encrypted raw material contents by usingacquired encryption key at a decoder connected with the server, byexecuting the contract processing with the server according to theinformation for the contract processing which is attached to theencrypted raw material contents in the secondary product contents thatare specified to be utilized and containing (a) a contract procedureinformation described by a contract description language, (b) theencryption key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique Identifierassigned to each contents; and reproducing contents decrypted by thedecoder, at a player; wherein the information for the contractprocessing contains a first description regarding a charge to anend-user by the raw material provider and the secondary product contentsproducer and a second description regarding a monetary transactioncharge between the raw material provider and the secondary productcontents producer, and when own contents are incorporated into othercontents, the second description is defined such that it is charged ifan incorporating entity is a commercial utilization and it is free if anincorporating entity is a non-commercial one.
 5. A medium recording acomputer readable and executable contents distribution program forenabling utilization of encrypted raw material contents which areprovided from a raw material provider and encrypted by using anencryption key and to which an information for a contract processing toenable utilization of the raw material contents is attached, fromsecondary product contents produced by a secondary product contentsproducer which contain one or more encrypted raw material contents, thecontents distribution program having the steps of: maintaining theencryption key of the encrypted raw material contents at a server;acquiring the encryption key from the server and decrypting theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key at adecoder connected with the server, by executing the contract processingwith the server according to the information for the contract processingwhich is attached to specified and encrypted raw material contents inthe secondary product contents and containing (a) a contract procedureinformation described by a contract description language, (b) theencryption key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifierassigned to each contents; and reproducing contents decrypted by thedecoder, at a player; wherein the information for the contractprocessing contains a first description regarding a charge to anend-user by the raw material provider and the secondary product contentsproducer and a second description regarding a monetary transactioncharge between the raw material provider and the secondary productcontents producer, and when own contents are incorporated into othercontents, the second description is defined such that it is charged ifan incorporating entity is a commercial utilization and it is free if anincorporating entity is a non-commercial one.
 6. A medium recording acomputer readable and executable contents distribution program forenabling utilization of secondary product contents produced by asecondary product contents producer which contain one or more encryptedraw material contents which are provided from a raw material providerand encrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information fora contract processing to enable utilization of the raw material contentsis attached, the contents distribution program having the steps of:maintaining the encryption key of the encrypted raw material contents ata server; acquiring the encryption key from the server and decryptingthe encrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key ata decoder connected with the server, by executing the contractprocessing with the server according to the information for the contractprocessing which is attached to the encrypted raw material contents inthe secondary product contents that are specified to be utilized andcontaining (a) a contract procedure information described by a contractdescription language, (b) the encryption key for decrypting contents,and (e) a unique identifier assigned to each contents; and reproducingcontents decrypted by the decoder, at a player; wherein the informationfor the contract processing contains a first description regarding acharge to an end-user by the raw material provider and the secondaryproduct contents producer and a second description regarding a monetarytransaction charge between the raw material provider and the secondaryproduct contents producer, and when own contents are incorporated intoother contents, the second description is defined such that it ischarged if an incorporating entity is a commercial utilization and it isfree if an incorporating entity is a non-commercial one.
 7. The contentsdistribution system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the own contents are theraw material contents.
 8. A contents distribution system for enablingutilization of encrypted raw material contents which are provided from araw material provider and encrypted by using an encryption key and towhich an information for a contract processing to enable utilization ofthe raw material contents is attached, from secondary product contentsproduced by a secondary product contents producer which contain one ormore encrypted raw material contents, the contents distribution systemcomprising: a server configured to maintain the encryption key of theencrypted raw material contents; and a client connected with the serverand including a decoder configured to acquire the encryption key fromthe server and decrypt the encrypted raw material contents by usingacquired encryption key, by executing the contract processing containinga first action for satisfying a contract condition and a second actionrelated to a contents utilization style with the server according to theinformation for the contract processing which is attached to specifiedraw material contents in the secondary product contents and containing(a) a contract procedure information described by a contract descriptionlanguage, (b) a key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifierassigned to each contents, and a player configured to reproducedecrypted contents.
 9. A contents distribution system for enablingutilization of secondary product contents produced by a secondaryproduct contents producer which contain one or more encrypted rawmaterial contents which are provided from a raw material provider andencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract processing to enable utilization of the raw material contentsis attached, the contents distribution system comprising: a serverconfigured to maintain the encryption key of the encrypted raw materialcontents; and a client connected with the server and including a decoderconfigured to acquire the encryption key from the server and decrypt theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key, byexecuting the contract processing containing a first action forsatisfying a contract condition and a second action related to acontents utilization style with the server according to the informationfor the contract processing which is attached to the encrypted rawmaterial contents in the secondary product contents that are specifiedto be utilized and containing (a) a contract procedure informationdescribed by a contract description language, (b) a key for decryptingcontents, and (c) a unique identifier assigned to each contents, and aplayer configured to reproduce decrypted contents.
 10. A contentsdistribution method for enabling utilization of encrypted raw materialcontents which are provided from a raw material provider and encryptedby using an encryption key and to which an information for a contractprocessing to enable utilization of the raw material contents isattached, from secondary product contents produced by a secondaryproduct contents producer which contain one or more encrypted rawmaterial contents, the contents distribution method comprising the stepsof: maintaining the encryption key of the encrypted raw materialcontents at a server; acquiring the encryption key from the server anddecrypting the encrypted raw material contents by using acquiredencryption key at a decoder connected with the server, by executing thecontract processing containing a first action for satisfying a contractcondition and a second action related to a contents utilization stylewith the server according to the information for the contract processingwhich is attached to specified and encrypted raw material contents inthe secondary product contents and containing (a) a contract procedureinformation described by a contract description language, (b) a key fordecrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifier assigned to eachcontents; and reproducing contents decrypted by the decoder, at aplayer.
 11. A contents distribution method for enabling utilization ofsecondary product contents produced by a secondary product contentsproducer which contain one or more encrypted raw material contents whichare provided from a raw material provider and encrypted by using anencryption key and to which an information for a contract processing toenable utilization of the raw material contents is attached, thecontents distribution method comprising the steps of: maintaining theencryption key of the encrypted raw material contents at a server;acquiring the encryption key from the server and decrypting theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key at adecoder connected with the server, by executing the contract processingcontaining a first action for satisfying a contract condition and asecond action related to a contents utilization style with the serveraccording to the information for the contract processing which isattached to the encrypted raw material contents in the secondary productcontents that are specified to be utilized and containing (a) a contractprocedure information described by a contract description language, (b)a key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifier assigned toeach contents; and reproducing contents decrypted by the decoder, at aplayer.
 12. A medium recording a computer readable and executablecontents distribution program for enabling utilization of encrypted rawmaterial contents which are provided from a raw material provider andencrypted by using an encryption key and to which an information for acontract processing to enable utilization of the raw material contentsis attached, from secondary product contents produced by a secondaryproduct contents producer which contain one or more encrypted rawmaterial contents, the contents distribution program causing a computerto function as a contents distribution system having: a serverconfigured to maintain the encryption key of the encrypted raw materialcontents; and a client connected with the server and including a decoderconfigured to acquire the encryption key from the server and decrypt theencrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryption key, byexecuting the contract processing containing a first action forsatisfying a contract condition and a second action related to acontents utilization style with the server according to the informationfor the contract processing which is attached to specified raw materialcontents in the secondary product contents and containing (a) a contractprocedure information described by a contract description language, (b)a key for decrypting contents, and (c) a unique identifier assigned toeach contents, and a player configured to reproduce decrypted contents.13. A medium recording a computer readable and executable contentsdistribution program for enabling utilization of secondary productcontents produced by a secondary product contents producer which containone or more encrypted raw material contents which are provided from araw material provider and encrypted by using an encryption key and towhich an information for a contract processing to enable utilization ofthe raw material contents is attached, the contents distribution programcausing a computer to function as a contents distribution system having:a server configured to maintain the encryption key of the encrypted rawmaterial contents; and a client connected with the server and includinga decoder configured to acquire the encryption key from the server anddecrypt the encrypted raw material contents by using acquired encryptionkey, by executing the contract processing containing a first action forsatisfying a contract condition and a second action related to acontents utilization style with the server according to the informationfor the contract processing which is attached to the encrypted rawmaterial contents in the secondary product contents that are specifiedto be utilized and containing (a) a contract procedure informationdescribed by a contract description language, (b) a key for decryptingcontents, and (c) a unique identifier assigned to each contents, and aplayer configured to reproduce decrypted contents.
 14. The contentsdistribution system of claim 8 or 9, wherein the decoder also carriesout a processing for checking whether or not a lifetime specifyingformat recorded in the acquired encryption key is a number of times forwhich it can be reproduced, and reducing the number of times for whichit can be reproduced by one if it is the number of times for which itcan be reproduced and the number of times for which it can be reproducedis remaining.
 15. The contents distribution system of claim 8 or 9,wherein the decoder also carries out a processing for checking whetheror not a lifetime recorded in the acquired encryption key is within avalid period, and setting the encryption key as valid if it is withinthe valid period or setting the encryption key as invalid after deletingthe encryption key if it is not within the valid period.
 16. Thecontents distribution system of claim 8 or 9, wherein the contractprocessing to be executed by the decoder includes a processing forgenerating an XML document by interpreting a contract proceduredescribed by the contract description language, and taking out a stylesheet from the contract description language and applying it to the XMLdocument.
 17. The contents distribution system of claim 8 or 9, whereinthe contract processing to be executed by the decoder includes aprocessing for generating an XML document by interpreting a contractprocedure described by the contract description language, and taking outthe first action from the contract description language and executingit.